{"id":457956,"date":"2026-05-20T07:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457956\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T07:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:02:10","slug":"number-of-rte-workers-earning-more-than-e100000-increased-more-than-a-third-in-past-five-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457956\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of RT\u00c9 workers earning more than \u20ac100,000 increased more than a third in past five years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of RT\u00c9<\/a> workers earning more than \u20ac100,000 annually grew by more than a third in the last five years.<\/p>\n

Figures released by the broadcaster following queries from The Irish Times show that for total earnings \u2013 including pensions, salaries and allowances \u2013 there were 270 employees earning more than six figures at the organisation in 2020.<\/p>\n

That number grew to 315 in 2024 and again to 368 in 2025, a 36 per cent increase since 2020. An RT\u00c9 spokesman said there were negotiated pay agreements in place over this period that mandated increased pay.<\/p>\n

It comes as RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst<\/a> said the broadcaster had \u201cpaid a price\u201d for transparency over presenter Derek Mooney<\/a>\u2019s earnings at the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Speaking after a meeting with Minister for Communications Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a>, Bakhurst said the controversy was \u201cfrustrating\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have paid a price for that transparency which is the controversy in the past few days, and that\u2019s disappointing for me because I do want to drive transparency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we pay that kind of price when we discover something we want to put right and put it in the public domain, it\u2019s not an incentive to be more transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan, also speaking after the meeting, rejected the suggestion RT\u00c9 was being punished for being transparent. He reiterated that he wanted the organisation to publish the full earnings for those working in Montrose \u2013 either through salaried work or through top-ups and allowances. <\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 said last week it had decided to revise its top 10 highest earning presenters for 2024 to include Mooney after it \u201creconsidered what constitutes a presenter\u201d. <\/p>\n

It said Mooney had previously been designated as a producer and not as a presenter over a period from 2020 to 2024. <\/p>\n

Montrose executives will appear before the Oireachtas<\/a> media committee on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Cabinet approved draft laws<\/a> bringing RT\u00c9 under the supervision of the State\u2019s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General<\/a>, alongside several other measures the Coalition said would improve transparency and oversight.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan said he was satisfied RT\u00c9 had made his department aware of the issue over Mooney\u2019s earnings in a timely manner, while Bakhurst said the issue that gave rise to the restatement was a \u201cone-off\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know of anything else, but it doesn\u2019t stop us looking and if we discover something, we\u2019re not going to hide it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

There was also new scrutiny of the pay and conditions of former RT\u00c9 presenter Se\u00e1n Rocks<\/a>, who died last year. It came after Labour\u2019s media spokeswoman Marie Sherlock on Tuesday said RT\u00c9\u2019s treatment of his pay had \u201csignificant financial implications\u201d for his family after his death.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9 treatment of Se\u00e1n Rocks pay had \u2018significant financial implications\u2019 for family, says TDOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Dublin Central<\/a> TD Sherlock told The Irish Times she has been in contact with Rocks\u2019s widow, Catherine Bailey, for some time.<\/p>\n

She said when Rocks took over as presenter of Arena he was put on a producer\u2019s salary with an additional allowance covering his on-air role.<\/p>\n

Sherlock said it was her understanding that Rocks had repeatedly tried to resolve the situation and have himself classified as a presenter, and RT\u00c9 had refused this.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for O\u2019Donovan confirmed that he met Bailey on Monday as controversy builds over the classification of workers\u2019 pay at the station.<\/p>\n

It is understood Bailey raised classification of Rocks\u2019s employment with O\u2019Donovan and told him it had had implications for her and her family since his death.<\/p>\n

Asked about Sherlock\u2019s comments, RT\u00c9 provided some general details of the pension and benefit schemes relevant after the death of an employee.<\/p>\n

\u201cRT\u00c9 has a group life assurance policy which pays 2.5 times insured pensionable pay on death in service,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalary for pension purposes in all RT\u00c9 schemes is basic salary plus pensionable allowances, and these would be advised by RT\u00c9 to the pensions administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently in RT\u00c9\u2019s DC [defined contribution] and 50\/50 schemes a spouse\u2019s death-in-service pension is paid based on pensionable salary and potential pensionable service. Children\u2019s pensions are also payable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccumulated DC funds in both schemes are also payable on death subject to a potential service-related minimum payment of between one and one-and-a-half times salary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of RT\u00c9 workers earning more than \u20ac100,000 annually grew by more than a third in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[38183,195263,93,61,60,47232,12636,6232,6085],"class_list":["post-457956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-comptroller-and-auditor-general","tag-derek-mooney","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kevin-bakhurst","tag-oireachtas","tag-patrick-o-donovan","tag-rte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}